Blink
by Fantasy's-Priestess
Summary: Castiel is a star. He has watched the Earth as long as he has existed, and admires the humans on it. He wishes more then anything that he could feel love the way humans do. Dean's world is falling apart, and all he wants is someone to stay behind and love him while the world keeps moving. In the end, they both might get their wishes. COPIED FROM MY ARCHIVE ACCOUNT
1. Leaving

Castiel had been watching Earth for a very long time.

It watched dinosaurs walk the Earth, and watched them be wiped out. It saw revolution, and animals turning into people. Religions grew and art blossomed and the very foundation of being was born.

From the skies above, it watched over them. Even when war tore the land apart and life was being killed, it couldn't bring itself to look away.

The Earth was its only friend. It was lonely, being a star. Just being made up of gas and fire and _light _made it hard to communicate. Sometimes it tried. It blew itself up and died itself down. It blinked and winked at those below. It even blew out entirely once. But it was never noticed. No one noticed a single star disappear from the sky.

It made him feel incredibly lonely.

So it watched those below. They were amazing. They were full of danger and kindness and pain. Most of all, they loved. They cared so deeply for one another. Despite wrongdoings and betrayal, they kissed and touched and trusted.

Castiel wished it could do that. Love. It didn't know how to love. It was just a star after all. It was only an 'it'. An item, a rock set ablaze. How could it love?

It eventually got an answer.

Love came in the form of a family. A mother, a father and two boys. And while they faced trials and tribulations, they cared fiercely. Loyalty was their strongest suit. Even if they were loyal beyond all practicality.

Most importantly though, they gave birth to a child. A man, young and beautiful. Not in the physical sense exactly, but in something else entirely.

The man _loved _like no other. He sacrificed so much for his family, and gave so much to his friends. He didn't know how _not _to love. He treated almost everyone with gentleness and devotion. Sometimes he hurt those who had wronged him, but who didn't? He was still perfect in Castiel's eyes. It wondered if that was what it felt like to love.

It wished, not for the first time, that it were human. Gender didn't matter. Not really. Both of the sexes have proved themselves time and time again, over the course of history. Maybe even no gender at all. That would be interesting.

But there was no possibility. It was alone. It had no family to save it, no friends. No one strong enough to strike him down from the sky. Besides, there were others out there like itself, but it could not come in contact with them. It was separated by time and space, never to touch its siblings. It was a terribly lonely existence. And it was probably doomed to live it forever.

Then unexpected happened.

It fell.

Dean stomped out of the house. His breathing was labored as he walked down the steps, through the yard, out to the empty vessels that used to be cars. He kept walking until he reached one of his favorites. The '67 Impala. His father's favorite.

The thing was still crushed up and beaten. Still destroyed, despite the fact the accident had been years ago. Dean could never bring himself to fix it up.

Instead he sat in the backseat like he did when he was a child. He gently opened the rusty door, gently laid himself on the leather in the back and closed the door behind him. Not that it could hide him away or protect him from anything. If Bobby or Sam really wanted to find him, they could. But Dean ignored that. As he lay back on the dirty seat, he let himself believe that it was just the stars and him. Nothing else existed in the universe.

His breath rattled every time his chest moved, so he tried not to breathe too deeply. The water welling up wasn't tears. It was just a reaction to the dust. Cold fingers curled up and tried to warm up where he had balled them up in his pockets. He stayed as still as he could.

He watched the stars, open to distraction. They were striking, and normal. Unlike with the people in his life, they never left or abandoned him. They were always there, despite the clouds that sometimes blocked them from view. And sometimes, **not that he'd ever tell anyone**, they blinked at him. Going in and out of existence for a moment, before coming back full force. As if they were listening to him, and they wanted to show they did.

Dean could watch them forever.

He wouldn't mind that. Watching them until he died. Preferably right where he was, in the hunk of a useless car and a thin jacket. Probably not the most dignified death. But not everyone could die like Jo or his Dad did. Even he didn't have the guts for that.

Unfortunately for him, the world moved on. The Earth shifted and turned, never dwelling a moment too late or arriving a moment too soon. Eventually Sam would go and look for him, and bring him inside. He would still leave in a few weeks for college. Ellen would move in. Everything, including the ground he walked on, would change.

Fuck that.

When he was young, he didn't mind the change. Moving from base to base wasn't as much of an issue then. It wasn't until they moved in with Bobby did they realize what they were missing. And now they, or at least Dean, didn't want to go back.

In that moment he couldn't bare the thought of it.

So for the first time in years, he prayed. He prayed for his mom, his pop, Jo. He prayed for Sammy and for Bobby. He put his heart and tears into it.

No matter how much he cried though, it didn't work. No one came back, and no one was going to stay. He was going to be alone. There was no way he could avoid it.

Thinking back on when he and Sammy used to lie out on the grass when they were kids, he did the next thing he could think of.

"Um…please, can you…I need someone. To stay."

He felt ridiculous. He just asked the goddamn _stars _for help. Floating piles of heated rock. Not even on the first star he saw, but on the stars in general.

Maybe that one beer was a bit too much for him.

He got up, and as much as it pained him, climbed out of the car. He stormed from there straight to his room and locked the door. Ignoring the look on Sam's face as he went.

After a few hours of tossing and turning later that night, Dean was somehow able to fall asleep. So of course something had to wake him up.

It wasn't the usual though. Sammy wasn't having nightmares nor was Ellen coming in the middle of the night for Bobby. This was different.

He sat up in bed, just in time to see a light flash by his window.

Startled, and still shaking images of fire and pain out of his mind, he brought himself to his feet and ran over. The window frame was almost warm to the touch when he leaned on it. He grabbed the blue curtain that blocked the outside from view and yanked it away.

His eyes widened.

**Not sure if I'll continue this…let me know if I should!**


	2. Breathing

Castiel blinked. And blinked again. It didn't understand. What…why…? It didn't know what was happening. For the first time in many millennia, the star was caught off guard. Something had changed. Something was new. And it didn't know what to do.

And before it could figure anything out, something beyond its control took over. It acted on a certain need that was all consuming, and somewhat petrifying.

It took its first ragged breath.

Oxygen, _air_, clawed its way inside, and after staying for what felt like forever, it all whooshed of it out as carbon dioxide. Castiel found that as soon as it was over, he had to do it again. And again, and again, and again. It was never-ending, like the place the star called home.

Breathing. What it was doing was called breathing. At least according to the population on Earth.

It had never breathed before. It shouldn't have to breathe. It wasn't even _possible _for the star to breathe. Oxygen wasn't supposed to be consumed by the star, nonetheless sustain it. What was happening? How could it taste the air in him molecule by molecule, and then take it and rebuild it and expel it again?

Castiel wanted to ponder further, figure out what was going on, but before it could something new became precedence.

As it took its first breaths, everything around it was cold and dark. That was something homely, something that it was used to. So of course, this soon disappeared. Instead, stars came into view. Its siblings. It was all wrong though. They were so far away from it. And they were encased by dark shapes. Shapes that looked like fingers. They were outreached and looked like they were trying to grasp them.

Its breathing began to come quickly. And something inside it began to pound so loudly it could hear it in its ears.

Its breathing did not slow when it looked away from the sky. It looked around, and found itself surrounded by darkness and shapes. The same shapes that were reaching for the sky. They were dark, ugly, and they seemed to want to grab it.

The same need that made it breathe pushed it to move. Without thinking, it moved the two limbs attached to itself and laid them flat upon the ground. Ground? It had never felt something underneath it before. It had always been just wide open space.

It dared to look down and gasped. Not only at the solid ground underneath it, but at...

Body? A body? Did it belong to it? Was somebody just laying near it?

It moved again. With new limbs it pushed itself up against the ground. The body came closer, specifically the legs. They were right underneath it. It reached for them, and gasped again. It could _feel _it. It could _feel_.

Everything hit all at once. Legs were underneath it. Hands had pushed it up. Its breaths came from lungs, and the pounding inside it was probably a heart. It could see the darkness with eyes and it could smell Earth with a nose. Just like the humans did.

It could no longer breathe. It felt his eyes watering up. Tears?

It suddenly felt as if it couldn't get air into its new lungs. It couldn't—it couldn't—

"Hello? Anyone out there?"

The shout made its head spike up. It recognized that voice.

Dean couldn't believe it. A goddamn meteor or some shit just flew by. It was close too. It was practically in their backyard.

He had to see what it was. And he didn't know why exactly he needed to see it. All he knew was that it was fucking cool and who knew, maybe it might be aliens? That was a reason enough, right?

Dean slipped out of the house as quietly as he could, with a flashlight and a switchblade, just in case. It was probably nothing, but he wasn't taking any chances. He walked through the salvage yard and over the fence. When he touched the Earth again after climbing over the fence, he met ferns and wild grass. The night was quiet all around him, except for the sounds of animals scurrying away from him. The stars were still out too, and so was the moon.

He walked for a while. He tried not to trip, and lit up as much as he could with the beam of the flashlight. He listened intently to the forest around him, just in case. Dean walked through plants and trees and dirt, and even stepped in a puddle at some point.

It didn't take too long for him to decide it was time to turn back. He couldn't live like this. This was as stupid as him wishing on the stars. He was chasing and believing in things that weren't real. What the hell was he even thinking?

He had just turned around towards home when he heard it. Gasps. Pants and scuffles in the night. Dean looked back through the trees to the fence that led to home, then back towards the dark forest. He stood there for a few seconds, before hearing the noises again.

What the fuck would make those noises? And why? He went to turn back towards the fence again. He was going to leave. Really, he was. Nonetheless, he still stood there. Looking back and forth between home and the dark.

If he went forward, he didn't know what would happen. He could find nothing or he could get hurt. However, the possibility of something being there was slightly higher then before…and he really needed to know what it was.

Or the whole thing could be ignored and forgotten. The way home would be fairly easy. Going home and getting some actual sleep sounded good. Seeing Sammy and Bobby in a few hours sounded…

Dean clenched his teeth and turned away from home. Toward the thing in the woods. Not his smartest plan ever, but he held the light up and his blade open. That meant he was a little bit safer. Hopefully.

He treaded carefully forward, eyeing everything around him. He walked only a few steps before calling out into the night, "Hello?"

It was only then that he remembered that the person who called out when something was after them usually died within minutes. Damn. He wasn't on his game tonight. He could only rely on the hope that he wasn't the star of a horror movie at that moment.

Dean gripped the switchblade tighter.

"Anyone out there?" He already screwed himself over; might as well go all the way right?

Silence.

Grimacing, he walked forward. He _had _to know. It was fucking insane, but he had to.

He walked through a couple of trees towards where the sound came from. The trees brushed against him and it almost felt comforting. Reminiscent of the times where Sam and he would run around and shoot at each other with Nerf guns. They would hide behind the trees and jump over logs. They would screech and holler at each other for hours. And Bobby would always tell them to pick up their plastic when it became sunset. And when they complied, he'd give them lemonade and pie. What a softie.

Those warm summer days felt so far away. Especially when leafless trees and hard ground surrounded him instead. Though the good news was he didn't feel as cold as he should have. Which was strange considering—

The trees suddenly gave way, and Dean almost reeled. In front of him, where trees used to be, there was just an empty space. They were all burnt and on their sides, surrounding a large hole in the middle of the ground. It smelt like smoke and _fire _and goddamn it.

He had to take deep breaths and focus. He wanted to close his eyes but he couldn't, too focused on the red-hot embers surrounding the hole. He carefully avoided them as he began to step forward. His body screamed at him to turn away and run, but he couldn't. He had to know.

"_Be brave Dean."_

Dean's hands shook.

He tiptoed to the edge of the hole and looked inside. It was huge, and shallow, and what the hell was that?

Dean leaned over the hole as far as he allowed himself to go, and he slowly moved his flashlight. He pointed it so the light hit the middle of the giant thing. When a dark figure was revealed, he had to bite his lip to keep from cursing. That was some scary movie shit right there.

It seemed to be frozen, not moving despite the noises it was making. It—

Wait.

It was a person. A _human_, a man…a goddamn naked man.

Dean didn't know whether to be thankful or disgusted.

"What the hell are you doing down there?"

The man quickly looked up, blinking furiously. When he tried to look into the light, he grimaced and quickly looked away again. His brows furrowed as he rubbed his eyes gently. When he looked back up he looked confused. As if Dean was the one out of place here.

Shit, maybe he was. Dean prayed that he hadn't just walked in on a weird sex thing.

"What are you doing here?" Dean repeated. He pulled himself up and turned himself around, so he could sit on the edge and let his feet dangle. Just in case the poor guy needed help or something.

He certainly looked like he needed it. He didn't move except to tilt his head in Dean's direction. No sound left his lips and he made no indication that he understood, or was even paying attention to what Dean was saying.

"Can you…can you understand me?"

The naked man's head righted itself and he slowly began to nod. He understood. So why…?

"Are you mute?"

The man didn't respond. He just stared into the dark, probably trying to see Dean. He couldn't really blame him. If a strange man in the dark suddenly talked to him, he'd probably be on guard too.

"Okay…do you need help?" Dean couldn't shut himself up. He probably shouldn't be offering help to strangers in the dark either, but he couldn't seem to stop. Something about a naked man in the dark, surrounded by dirt and a giant _hole_, screamed the need for help. And fortunately for him, Dean was a helpful guy.

The man looked down at the ground, and seemed to ponder what he said. It was uncomfortably silent for a few moments before the man looked up again. He looked so earnest yet so scared. It reminded Dean of Sam, when he still thought monster lurked under his bed.

Dean shook his head, and asked, "Well?"

The man, once again slowly, as if he was testing it out, nodded.

"Great. Let's get you out of this hole."


End file.
